Poland explains refusal to give old warplanes to Ukraine

Warsaw will be able to transfer its MiG-29 fighter jets to Kiev only after receiving replacements

Poland will not hand over its remaining fleet of Soviet-era MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine before getting new planes to replace them, Polish Foreign Ministry spokesman Pawel Wronski has said.

Speaking to the news agency Ukrinform on Thursday, the official claimed Poland itself has been facing “certain threats” and needed its MiG-29 fleet for defense. 

“If something heads toward Poland, there must be means to intercept it. Poland currently has 48 F-16 jets and has ordered an additional 32 F-35 jets. For now, Poland only has F-16s, which is insufficient to ensure complete air control,” he said. 

As soon as there is an opportunity to replace these several technically well-equipped MiGs with other aircraft to be transferred to Poland, they can be transferred to Ukraine.

Wronski also pointed out that Poland has already supplied Ukraine with assorted armored vehicles, artillery systems, and “the maximum number” of MiG-29 jets and spare parts for such aircraft. 

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While Warsaw has been one of Ukraine’s top backers over the course of the conflict with Russia, Kiev has continued to make ever-growing demands for arms and has even pressed Poland to directly enter the hostilities by intercepting incoming projectiles in Ukrainian airspace.

In August, Polish Deputy Prime Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said the country had already handed over all the weapons it could without damaging its own security. The batch of F-35 fighter jets Poland has ordered from the US won’t replace the MiG-29s until at least 2026, he said at the time.